The sound of the helicopter at around 3.30am (a wake up call for the climbers!) above the hut stirred up my senses. Sneaking outside the window it was dark but the uneven white silhouettes of the mountains were pretty much in view.As soon as I left the hut it started drizzling. Nevertheless, it didn’t dampen my spirits and I continued with my day’s plan of traversing two ends of the valley with prolonged altitude variations along the trail.From Hornlihut I descended to Stafel, a steep thoroughfare of rocks and scree which I grasped only after losing 1060m in an hour or so.

The hike from Stefal trailed through the morainic path of zmutt glacier (Dents d’Hérens (4171m) hidden in clouds) and sloped steeply upwards through the alpine pastures to hohenweg path – a mountain terrace offering magnificent views of the peaks and alpine flora & fauna.

The picturesque views like above were refreshing and kept me going.....

Nope I wasn’t alone....after nearly two hours of panoramic walk, the path eventually rolled downwards to Trift, a mountain hotel . I was starving, fuelled myself with hot Ovomaltine and freshly baked apple cake. After the perfect petit déjeuner, I set off for my final ascent of the day to Mettelhorn.

En route….Mettelhorn extending its peak in the background.

The snow field on the way was a welcome sight after the steep rocky terrain of Triftchumme…..an ideal place to cool off before setting out for the final stretch of gradient scree climb (protruding in the center) .

The summit offered an exclusive spot to admire the beautiful panorama of peaks around and contemplate the day’s rewarding hike!The descent was on the same route which I did quicker due to the fact that I had to go further down to Zermatt (neglecting the interesting botanical path from Trift downwards) and around 3 hours of drive back to Geneva …phew!